Gain a Competitive Advantage
Rental housing owners and operators who make the shift from asset-centric to customer-centric have a distinct competitive advantage. Those who choose to be at the forefront of where renters and technology meet, ready to greet residents on their terms, will improve resident loyalty, employee satisfaction, and profitability.
However, the shift isn’t an easy one, and forward progress often gets bogged down with technologies that don’t integrate, resulting in fragmented, even broken, customer experiences. Plus, the rapidly changing landscape of resident-facing technology and innovation leaves many organizations struggling to keep pace. Property management employees, who are already stretched thin, desire effective solutions proven to make their jobs easier and relieve them of mundane recurring tasks.
RealFoundations’ Customer Experience Improvement (CXI) Platform helps clients overcome these hurdles and accelerate their shift towards putting the customer first. Our CXI Advisors design and implement industry-leading approaches that improve the customer experience at every touchpoint along the acquisition and retention journey. We lend focus, deep industry knowledge, operational strategy, and cross-functional project management to optimize your investment in customer experience.
The best customer experience begins with understanding what matters most to your customers. Analyzing your customer journey through this lens can lead to improved touchpoints and operations that have a real impact.
Why Shift to Customer-Centric Now?
In today’s digital world, consumers are conditioned to receive what they want – instantly. Digitally-native renters are finding, applying for, and leasing apartments without a single human interaction. These steps have historically been the primary responsibilities of the on-site property management team members, who pride themselves on personalized service. However, with the technology available today, the way a prospect navigates through this process has permanently changed. Searching, touring, and leasing interactions can take place without any involvement from the property management team: a prospect only needs a Wi-Fi connection and a single connected device – be it a mobile phone, tablet, or laptop.
RealFoundations published the “Airplane Test” to illustrate a not-too-distant future in which a prospective renter can find, apply for, and lease an apartment to move into upon arrival – in a single, contactless online transaction – all from their seat onboard a flight. Property Management teams are using it to provoke internal discussions on how to best meet customer demand for a tech-enabled leasing and living experience.
Improve Employee Satisfaction and Retention
There is a clear link between employee and customer satisfaction, and that connection is especially strong for customer-facing sales and customer service roles. If happy employees lead to happier customers who spend more and stay more loyal over time, then what can we do to improve employee happiness? Automation, for those who adopt it wisely, has become a key driver.
Gallup researchers found that “when people have the opportunity to do work they are naturally gifted at and trained to do, they enjoy their work, find it stimulating, and want to do more of it.” Two-thirds of working people in the U.S. would welcome the idea of AI taking at least some tasks off their hands and a greater proportion of U.S. executives show a distinct preference for using AI automation to free up workers for more creative tasks. Wider adoption of automation in the property management industry helps employees do more of the work they value, which can result in higher levels of employee engagement and higher rates of retention. Empower employees to be part of “redefining work,” and you will be rewarded with their loyalty.
Ride the Wave of Technology Adoption
The COVID crisis forced a radical acceleration of technology adoption across the real estate industry, especially in the rental housing sector. And yet, we haven’t fully harvested the true value of this digital transformation. In October 2021, the National Apartment Association (NAA) reported on the top challenges facing property managers. After 18 months of being in crisis mode, initiatives related to implementing new technology and innovation still ranked in the top five. Managers pointed to specific challenges including, “seamlessly integrating technology into my company, ensuring my business is future-proof, and vetting new technology strategically and efficiently.”
In the midst of this momentum, owners and operators can seize the opportunity to guide their front-office technology adoption out of survival mode and into a thriving strategic program linked to continuous customer experience improvement.
Run Better with RealFoundations
Searching for a customer experience consulting partner that truly speaks your language – a firm that lives and breathes real estate and understands the ins and outs of the industry with all its complexities? RealFoundations is up to the task with deep industry knowledge and experience shared continuously across the entire ecosystem, raising the bar for every practitioner, all by design with you in mind. What’s more, our methods of exchanging accurate, timely information serve as both a differentiator among similar providers and one recognized by Microsoft and SWOOP Analytics as a leading best practice.
So, what does this mean for your company’s unique challenges? It means a wealth of experience is at the ready, at every step of your project. Where a team of experts will design and deploy best practices and methodologies for the betterment of your organization and your bottom line. Whatever the real estate business challenge, we will make it run better.
Connect with Us
Engage with our experts to discuss how RealFoundations’ Customer Experience Services can deliver long-term benefits to your organization. Let’s Start the Conversation.
Hope Dunleavy
EMC/Managing Director
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